left, you've got a house in fairfield literally floating down a flooded creek and then to the right in bridgeport, just a street devastated by water damage. all of this, for us, is cumulative which is to say it's on top of the destruction caused by two other events in the last year, hurricane irene in august, 011, and then by winter storm alfred in october of 201 . the total cost of damage from these three storms over the last year is almost $ billion, which is a very significant amount for a small state like hours -- like ours which has its own budget shortfall right now. madam chairman, as you referenced, we seem to be entering an age of increasingly violent storms so i think we've got to think carefully about whether and how to rebuild and location -- in locations we know are vulnerable and likely to be hit again that means as we go forward, we've got to have some vision and think about how we replace critical infrastructure, for instance, during each of the three storms in connecticut in the past year, we've been most seriously impacted in many ways by long-term power outages 1ru89 of our age